Short abstract:

The session highlights the diverse forms of exchange that contribute to the globalization of markets; how markets are organized, how valuables are constructed as desirable objects, the different kinds of money involved, how mobilities are structured, as well as the associated assemblages of ideas.

Long abstract:

To understand the workings of contemporary capitalism, we need to pay closer attention to the complex ways in which transnational flows of valuables articulate with local cultural processes and social structures. The session aims at stimulating discussions around the forms of exchange that contribute to the globalization of the economy; the different kinds of money involved; the valuables that are circulated; as well as the assemblages of ideas that inform these exchanges. The session aims to highlight how markets are organized, for example through expectations, norms and regulations; how valuables are constructed as desirable objects, for example through fairtrade or other kinds of labeling programs; and how mobilities are structured, for example through informal networks, corporate cartels, or crime syndicates. We invite papers that question the boundaries of the licit and the illicit economies and that highlight how these are organizationally entangled, such as in the case of drug trade.